The Beeb’s radio soap ‘The Archers’ seems to have been around for as long as I have, although I’ve never listened to a single episode of the ‘everyday story of country folk’.
I can’t say the same for a very old friend (I’ll call her Ann) who’s been a devoted follower of things down Ambridge way for donkey’s; that is until recently. When we met for coffee yesterday, she was raging at the show, declaring that she’s finished with it. So what’s pissed her off?
Well it turns out that a storyline has a long-standing character in the show, a b and b owner named Lynda Snell, fasting for Ramadan in support of her Muslim neighbours the Maliks. ‘I wouldn’t mind’ raged Ann, ‘but Lynda Snell is a domineering cow who’s all about herself, and imposing her outlook on others. She’d never be interested in a demonstration like this. It’s completely unrealistic as a story, daft in fact, and it’s really all about the BBC using yet another opportunity to ram its woke values down the listeners’ throats regardless’.
Now I can only go by what my friend says, but on the basis of this, it’s not hard to agree; it’s not as though Al-beebra’s not got form in this regard. Still, perhaps it’s not all bad. Perhaps this storyline’s paving the way for some gritty realism in the show in future, and we can await with excitement the honour killing in the Malik household, the revelation of a clandestine grooming gang operating out of The Bull, and a suicide attack on the milking shed.
Or…perhaps not. These plots just wouldn’t fit in with Al-beeb’s cringing, aching wokeness, would they?
Nominated by Ron Knee.